Jan,
I definitely felt the earthquake. I thought it would never end. It was not a rolling, but a definite shaking. For some reason I knew it was an earthquake, even though I've never experienced one before. We did have one in New Jersey from the Ramapo Fault in the 80's, but it was more of a thumping than anything else, and I didn't know it was an earthquake until later that night. I just thought my kids had come home from school and were stomping across the kitchen floor!! This is very different..5.9 on the Richter scale and so VERY weird here on the east coast. I'm glad you're okay!
Mary
I live in California and I've been through quite a few Earthquakes but I never had a premonition about any of them. It's always in the back of my mind that the longer we go without one, the closer we get to having one! We are very long overdue for a large one on the San Andreas. I don't recall any of my pets acting strangely before any of them either...certainly after though! My great grandmother was a big believe in what she called "Earthquake weather" which according to her were the calm, overcast muggy days after it had alternated between hot and cold for a few days.
It's not unfeasible that hot/cold alternations would cause a tectonic plate to eventually slip due to expansion and contraction but we have that type of weather every year at the end of fall and I don't think we have more Earthquake.
Earthquakes produce various types of waves, some that travel faster than others, and sometimes these waves can be detected by instruments or even some animals before the shaking hits but I've only heard of one case where a man without a richter scale knew an Earthquake was coming.
He was driving up into the Santa Susana mountains which overlook a part of Los Angeles known as the Valley on the morning of the Northridge Earthquake. He turned to look back at the view and on the Valley floor saw concentric circles of electrical arcs followed by blackouts racing out towards him. He experienced a moment of brief confusion before he finally realized what it was he was he was observing and then the shock wave hit him. Had he not actually stopped to look at the view he could have ended up on a section of freeway that collapsed.
I too live in Southern Ca. and have experienced many earthquakes. But I have never felt any changes in my body before or after one. My sister on the other hand can always predict a earthquake. And she does not have MC. When ever she says she has a feeling we are gonna get one. I make sure I have everything secure. I don't know who she does it, but she is never wrong.